Oakland Athletics: Huston Street (40th overall, 2004). The A’s are known as a club that drafts shrewdly, as the book Moneyball showed everyone. But the team hasn’t really developed a superstar out of the first round over the last decade, with Street standing as the most notable exception so far. He won the 2005 AL Rookie of the Year with the A’s and saved 94 games in four seasons with the club before getting dealt to the Rockies as part of the Matt Holliday trade (along with some guy named Carlos Gonzalez). I’d say that’s pretty good value for a flimsy asset like a closer. In the next few years, he’ll more than likely be usurped by one of Sonny Gray or Addison Russell, though.
Honorable mentions: Cliff Pennington, Sonny Gray, Travis Buck
Philadelphia Phillies: Travis d’Arnaud (37th overall, 2007). The Phillies drafted Pat Burrell, Brett Myers, Chase Utley, Gavin Floyd, and Cole Hamels in the first round over five straight years from 1998 to 2002. Since then, they have drafted exactly zero players in the first round that have accrued a positive WAR in the majors, though that could change with d’Arnaud, Kyle Drabek, Jesse Biddle, or J.P. Crawford in the next few years. I gave the nod right now to d’Arnaud for two reasons – he’s a catcher (and catching depth across baseball stinks), and because he was part of the trade to bring Roy Halladay to Philadelphia (along with the previously mentioned Drabek). Hey, whatever works…
Honorable mentions: none
Pittsburgh Pirates: Andrew McCutchen (11th overall, 2005). That amazing first round in 2005 netted the Pirates a franchise cornerstone in McCutchen. When a player becomes the face of your franchise and a former MVP less than a decade after being drafted…well, I think any team would end up being happy with that outcome. I don’t need to tell you how good McCutchen is – three straight 20/20 seasons, three straight All-Star berths, a Gold Glove, two Silver Sluggers, an MVP award, and another top three MVP finish. Oh, and rescuing the Pirates from 20 years of playoff futility helps as well.
Honorable mentions: Neil Walker, Pedro Alvarez, Gerrit Cole
San Diego Padres: Cory Luebke (63rd overall, 2007). Is this what it’s come to, Padres? Your best first rounder of the last decade is a supplemental first rounder that has thrown just 189 1/3 innings, none since 2012? Considering the Padres had four top ten picks in the last decade and somehow whiffed on three of the four (with the fourth, Max Fried, just two years away from being drafted), that isn’t a good thing at all.
Honorable mentions: Logan Forsythe
San Francisco Giants: Tim Lincecum (tenth overall, 2006). With all due respect to Buster Posey, who will be a franchise building block in San Francisco for a long time, you don’t get much more immediate return than the Giants did with Lincecum. They drafted him in 2006, he made his major league debut for 24 starts in 2007, and won the Cy Young Award in both 2008 and 2009. Lincecum fell off a cliff in 2012, and hasn’t been the same since, but those four years from 2008-2011 were pretty, pretty great. Not bad for a guy deemed to be “too small” to be an effective starter in the majors.
Honorable mentions: Buster Posey, Madison Bumgarner
Seattle Mariners: Dustin Ackley (second overall, 2009). One pick before Ackley, at the top of the first round in 2009, the Nationals took Stephen Strasburg. Imagine him with the Mariners at Safeco Field – yikes. Anyway, Ackley hasn’t been great for the Mariners, and he’s now been converted back to the outfield after initially getting converted to second base. He hasn’t come close to tapping into his potential, but is still just 26 years old. Given Seattle’s drafting in recent years, that makes him a stud.
Honorable mentions: Brandon Morrow, Nick Franklin
St. Louis Cardinals: Colby Rasmus (28th overall, 2005). Believe it or not, the Cardinals haven’t completely killed the top of the Draft in recent years. Most of their current stars were free agents, acquired via trade, or lower round draft picks. And hell, Rasmus isn’t even with the team anymore! He hit a disappointing .259/.334/.444 with St. Louis before being dealt to the Blue Jays for a quartet of players that helped the Cardinals win the 2010 World Series (none of whom are with the organization four years later). All things considered, that’ll work out pretty well.
Honorable mentions: Shelby Miller, Lance Lynn, Chris Perez, Michael Wacha
Tampa Bay Rays: Evan Longoria (third overall, 2006). The drafting of Longoria helped turn the Rays from a joke of an organization into one that sets the bar extremely high for other organizations. Longoria was the AL Rookie of the Year just two years after he was drafted, has finished in the top 20 of MVP voting five times in six seasons, has been named to three All-Star teams, won two Gold Gloves, and a Silver Slugger to boot. He’s also signed to one of the most team-friendly contracts in baseball, and won’t turn 30 until *next* October. It’s a good thing they hit on Longoria, because aside from David Price, no first round picks since have made an impact in the majors – and the Rays have had plenty to burn.
Honorable mentions: David Price, Jeff Niemann
Texas Rangers: Tommy Hunter (54th overall, 2007). The Rangers haven’t had a top ten pick in the Draft since 2004, when they took Thomas Diamond tenth overall. Their last top 15 pick was Matt Purke in 2009, who didn’t sign. There have been a lot of lower round picks in recent years for Texas, and that results in someone like Hunter being the top first rounder they’ve drafted. The Rangers really haven’t had a smash hit in the first round since either John Danks in 2003 or Mark Teixeira in 2001, but both of those players were traded relatively early in their careers. Aside from Hunter, who was traded to the Orioles with Chris Davis for Koji Uehara, there hasn’t been much impact at all here.
Honorable mentions: Julio Borbon, Justin Smoak, Tanner Scheppers
Toronto Blue Jays: Ricky Romero (sixth overall, 2005). Remember when Romero was one of the best young pitchers in baseball? He finished tenth in the 2011 AL Cy Young voting and was an All-Star at 26. Then, he fell off a cliff. Since then, he’s made just 36 appearances in the majors over two years, pitching 188 1/3 innings with a 5.97 ERA, 129 strikeouts, and 113 walks. This year, he’s been stuck in AAA all season, and has a 6.07 ERA in seven starts with more walks than strikeouts. Perhaps the worst part is that Romero earned a contract extension from the Jays, and is owed something like $13 million through next season. The downside of an extension, folks. The sad part is that he’s *still* Toronto’s best first rounder, as of right now.
Honorable mentions: Brett Cecil, J.P. Arencibia
Washington Nationals: Ryan Zimmerman (fourth overall, 2005). Again, I bid my respect to Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg, but Zimmerman has been Mr. National since those guys were still in high school (or junior high in the case of Harper). After being drafted, Zimmerman played just 67 games in the minors before getting called up to the majors, and he hasn’t looked back since. Even though his defense has taken a step back in recent years due to a combination of age and injuries, the 29-year old was one of the better defenders in baseball during the better part of the last decade and has never been a below average hitter. He was the runner-up for the 2006 NL Rookie of the Year award, has received MVP votes in three seasons, won two Silver Sluggers, won a Gold Glove, and made just one All-Star team despite a career .286/.353/.478 line.
Honorable mentions: Stephen Strasburg, Bryce Harper, Drew Storen, Ross Detwiler